


Almost good for each other

by wh4t4sh4me



Category: Wiedźmin | The Witcher (Video Game)
Genre: But basically I was just trying to find a good reason for those two to smash, Dubious Morality, F/M, Fluff, Grief/Mourning, Heartbreak, Lovesickness, Nakedness, Power Play, Regrets, Slow Burn, Trust Issues, after Wild Hunt, but if you tell her she might turn you to ash, folks what have I done, smashing will occur in chapter 7, the two of them together is a train wreck, yenn is just trying to cope really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-21
Updated: 2020-07-23
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:22:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 21,397
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23772256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wh4t4sh4me/pseuds/wh4t4sh4me
Summary: Emhyr flexed his fingers a few times and squinted his eyes shut, regaining his perfect composure.“You can still be of use to me.” he began and the sorceress bid back a sharp remark. “There will be no room for failure this time though...” He picked up his quill again. “...Or else we will both end up dead.”———Set after the main story line of Witcher 3. An emotionally compromised Yennefer seeks out an equally emotional compromised Emhyr var Emreis. Together, they will both not talk about their feelings.
Relationships: Emhyr var Emreis/Yennefer z Vengerbergu | Yennefer of Vengerberg
Comments: 20
Kudos: 56





	1. Chapter 1

“Couldn’t you just teleport there?”

Yen stopped fumbling with the clasp of her saddlebag and turned to Dandelion. The bard looked at her a little worried. If it was for him or her, she could not tell.

He certainly had picked up on her foul mood as she came back to the Rosemary and Thyme and began packing up her things.

The two giant wooden chests and her megascope still stood in her room upstairs so his question was validated.

“I’ll leave my things here for a few days, if you don’t mind.” It came out harsher than she intended.

“There is an urgent personal matter I need to tend to on the way to Vizima. I won’t bore you with the details.”

Dandelion looked somehow not convinced. He always had some fearful respect for the sorceress since the day they met.

He almost lost his voice back then due to an angry djinn and the whole event taught him to keep far away from women who could turn him to ash with the snap of a finger.

A good principle, since he had the habit of enraging almost every female in his vicinity with his ...loose understanding on how monogamy worked.

But sometimes he could be terribly perceptive.

She turned from his worried face back to the saddlebags.

“I’ll be fine Dandelion.”

“I know you will.” He kept tiptoeing around her.

_We’ll meet again_. Geralt had said.

He and Triss had set sail to Kovir only a few hours prior, rolling out with the morning tide.

_That seems inevitable._ Yen had replied with a light smile on her face.

She had watched for an appropriate amount of time as the ship left the port before turning on her heel and leaving the waterside.

She bought a fast horse at the Vegelbud Estate and rode to the Rosemary and Thyme.

She had a plan.

...Or more a _notion_ of what to do next.

Hence her conversation with Dandelion.

He handed her the bag with provisions and she fastened it to the saddle.

“Alright.” She patted off her hands on her knees. “Thank you for your help. High time I’ll be on my way.”

Dandelion fumbled with his sleeve. It was obvious that he wanted to say something.

It only took him a few more seconds.

“Yennefer, you are a welcome guest at the cabaret, you know that right? You can always come here.

And I know that things have changed now...after all we have been through but you know, you will always have friends in Novigrad.“

For a moment she was taken aback. A part of her was touched by his words another asked exactly how much of her feelings she had allowed to be seen and heard that Dandelion felt like he needed to cheer her up.

Yen pulled the bard in a tight embrace and after a moment he relaxed and repeated the gesture.

She took a step back and caressed his cheek.

“Thank you. That means a lot to me.” She said and added with a raised eyebrow and light smile: “You know, I’m beginning to see what all those ladies like about you.”

He evidently wasn’t sure how to interpret her ironic remark. There was a glint of mild panic in his eyes and he laughed nervously.

Satisfied, Yen got on the back of her mare and rode off.

She needed to be alone before facing Emhyr again.

Geralt had visited the emperor before his departure, declaring Ciri officially dead. In reality, the girl was somewhere in Velen, hunting monsters but they all agreed, that it would be best, if his majesty never knew.

Crach was dead.

Avallac’h nowhere to be found.

The Sorceresses of the Lodge wanted to reform themselves but were currently divided as to where and how. Certain were only that it was to be under Emhyr var Emris reign.

Yen felt herself getting angry as she remembered her most recent and hopefully last meeting with Phillipa Eilhardt.

It didn’t exactly go well.

The guards at the gates jumped out of the way, saving themselves from iron-studded hooves and cursing her fluttering dark cape.

She didn’t leave them time to do more.

On a hill a few miles outside of town, she yanked at the reins and stopped abruptly, her eyes drawn to the east and to a white pair of sails far out on the glittering water.

The mare danced nervously, sensing the thunderstorm of emotion in its rider.

Yen stared at the sea.

Then she spurred her horse on again, down the hill. The wind blowing in her face from the fast pace stung painfully in her eyes.

Or so she told herself.


	2. Chapter 2

“Yennefer of Vengerberg.”

Emhyr stated as the chamberlain let her pass the door to the dimly lit imperial study.

Apart from the chandelier on the emperor’s desk, the big room only received light from the two windows to the left and right and one in the back.

It bestowed the man sitting at the desk with a mysterious outline and Yen asked herself, not for the first time if that was intended.

Emhyr’s calm tone of voice made her blink as she experienced a powerful Deja-vu to the day she began to search for Ciri.

Her cell door opening.

The same tall frame standing in the door way, saying her name in the exact same, matter-of-fact intonation. It was an indisputable truth as well as a question and a threat.

“The Witcher said you wished to remain North.” The present Emhyr said without looking up from his desk. Again, a question rolled up within a fact.

Yen shifted uncomfortably and tried to discreetly unstick her dress from her back.

She could feel the sweat there and on her neck cooling.

It had been a three days ride from Novigrad and she did not have the time to make herself more presentable before being brought before the emperor.

Also, _someone_ had tucked a rather exquisite bottle of Est Est in her saddlebag. A product of Dandelion’s concern, she was sure. Her headache this morning while waking up in a cheap inn at the outskirts of Velen had been quiet spectacular.

Street dust on her boots, unwashed, tired... This was what Geralt must have felt like always. Minus the hangover.

She quickly shook the thought of him.

It was not like her to get distracted with such trivial matters in a moment like this.

“A few things changed.” she said. “...I have nothing holding me there any longer. I would like to resume our former arrangement, your majesty. If that is possible.”

Still vague, but close enough to the truth for Emhyr to hopefully swallow it.

He stood up and walked around the table to the window. Yen observed him closely as he looked down on the town beneath the palace. It was a sunny afternoon and dust danced in the columns of light emitting from the high windows. Yet the emperor evaded the direct sunlight.

“I was also told by my informants, to expect Phillipa Eilhardt in your stead.”

“That was a misunderstanding, as far as I’m aware.”

He turned to Yen, lifting an eyebrow. “I don’t suppose you know how a burning warehouse in Novigrad three days ago relates to that misunderstanding?”

“Your majesty is well informed.”

“As I have to be. What happened?”

“As you apparently know: We had a rather ...heated exchange. In the end she agreed that she would first concentrate on regaining her full eyesight before entering politics again.” She said truthfully, feeling exhausted and not at all surprised by Emhyr’s knowledge.

Emhyr pursed his lips and returned to his seat. “A farsighted decision, surely.” he said as he sat down.

Yen inclined her head ever so slightly, not sure if she heard correctly.

Nothing in Emhyr’s mimic and gesture conveyed that he was anything but calculating the pros and cons of her proposal. He remained as stone-faced and menacing as ever.

Their relationship had transformed into this somewhere along the way while they were fighting the Wild Hunt:

She would give him reports on the progress with only the necessary information, knowing that often most of it wasn’t news to him.

She never lied, but she left out a few details unless specifically asked.

For example the whole mess with the Berserkers at Kaer Trolde.

Her half-hearted attempts at puns when trying to draw his attention away from gaps in her narrative were always overseen.

Except sometimes he replied like this.

While keeping the facial range of a rock troll. It had thrown her of track more than one time.

“Would you rather have Phillipa in my place?” she asked.

“No. I don’t trust her. I don’t want to end like Radovid’s father.”

He lifted one of his hands slightly as he saw how Yen opened her mouth. “That is my personal theory as to what happened back then. She is very ambitious. We can discuss her person and the lodge later on.”

She nodded. “As you wish... I take it that you want me to stay then?”

“I’m not entirely sure, Yennefer.”

“Was I under the false impression that our arrangement wasn’t beneficial to both of us?”

He leaned back in his chair and kept silent for a long moment, hands clasped before his face.

She was about to resign and walk away, - she was no fool after all - when he finally said:

“You failed to bring me my daughter.”

Yen had been prepared for the topic of Ciri to come up. “It was her decision. She saved this world and countless others.” She looked at the emperor with an earnest expression. Both statements were true.

Emhyr remained silent, his face largely covered by his hands.

“Your daughter...” she began.

“ _Yet you failed in your task._ ” He raised his voice, leaning forward.

The rapid flapping of pigeon wings became audible from outside the window.

Yen straightened herself but didn’t flinch nor moved from her place in front of his desk. She pursed her lips.

Emhyr flexed his fingers a few times and squinted his eyes shut, regaining his perfect composure.

“You can still be of use to me.” he began and the sorceress bid back a sharp remark. “There will be no room for failure this time though...” He picked up his quill again. “...Or else we will both end up dead.”


	3. Chapter 3

The rooms in the west tower of the palace were usually occupied by high ranking guests and ambassadors but on order of the emperor and with a dozen of servants, the luxurious and spacious bedroom was cleaned and refurnished according to Yen’s needs.

She opened a portal to the Rosemary & Thyme, followed by two cautious looking servants and gave them order as to how to proceed with her luggage.

The two got to work, groaning under the weight of the chests and the megascope, while she looked around one last time.

For a short moment the sorceress thought about going downstairs to see Dandelion and Zoltan. It felt like the last chance for some time and it seemed shabby to just... leave.

Eventually, she decided against it.

She left a terse note for the bard, thanking him for the lodging and put the empty bottle Est Est next to it on the night stand.

Yen breathed in the relatively fresh sea air of Novigrad once more, before returning to the dry inland heat of Vizima, leaving her concerns for her friend's feelings behind as well.

When she was finally alone in her new rooms, she took great pleasure in stripping out of her sweaty clothes and sinking into the slightly too hot bath that had been prepared.

The chamberlain had left her with instructions from Emhyr to meet him at sundown again, to her effort.

She soaked in the soapy water and scrubbed herself clean of Velen’s dried up mud - a souvenir of the land, that left every traveller passing through smelling slightly of decay.

Yen sighed contented.

The warmth of the water lulled her in, leaving her thoughts to wander before snapping back painfully to the one thing occupying large parts of her mind.

 _Geralt_.

Geralt on this ship with white sails.

Geralt, free of their bond.

It was like a thing in the middle of the room she left there and forgot. And now she tripped every time she tried to get to the door.

Yen felt her throat tightening up and hated herself for it.

She didn’t want to tell Dandelion that her “personal matter” on the way to Vizima had been to, far from any civilisation, turning a few dead trees into ash in an effort to ease the crushing weight on her chest.

Her ruckus had only been rewarded by a few small swamp gas explosions, smelling like the breath of a thousand rotting corpses.

Not very satisfactory, but she had gladly taken on the drowners that swarmed her soon after, drawn by the noise and light.

She burned them to crisps, screaming out her wrath about being cast aside like a broken rake.

Yen shook the gloomy thoughts off, rubbing her face clean before emerging from the luke-warm bathtub and getting dressed. This was the wrong time to _grief_ over something that, in reality, ended years ago. She looked in the mirror while fastening her necklace, inspected her hair once more and left the room. 

Her heels clicked on the stone tiles of the floor as she, exactly as the sun began to touch the horizon arrived at the little staircase leading up to Emhyr´s rooms.

She cautiously noted the increased amount of guards standing at attention as she passed. 

“Yennefer, please join us.” The emperor’s voice carried far in the quiet room.

Nothing noticeable changed in the study, only the shadows had wandered around the room.

And there was another man besides Emhyr, clad in nilfgardian black and gold.

“Your majesty. General Voorhis.” She nodded in the direction of him as she approached the table and he smiled at her.

“Miss Yennefer, I’m glad to see you again in the royal palace.”

Morvran Voorhis jovial nature always seemed a bit suspicious to her, bearing in mind how far he had risen through the Nilfgardian ranks. He was cunning and intelligent; exactly the reason why the emperor entrusted him with only the most delicate tasks.

“Well, I’m glad to be here, general. I assume your presence means that this is important.”

Although they both knew her statement was true, he chuckled lightly.

“You flatter me, Miss.”

Emhyr grabbed one of the cups on the table. Yen and Voorhis looked into his direction as he poured himself what looked like watered down wine.

“If you two are done exchanging niceties, general,” he said, “you could explain to the sorceress were we stand on the matter at hand.”

“My apologies, Sire.” Voorhis bowed lightly to the sovereign and turned to Yen again.

“This morning one of our agents was found dead in the Ismena by fishermen.”

“Oh.”

“Yes, quite unfortunate. The problem causing us a headache is that he was investigating certain rumours about a planned… assassination of the emperor.”

Yen glanced over to Emhyr. He was turning the cup with one hand watching her with an unreadable expression.

“Now? But you won the war.” she said. “Your opposition will hardly find enough support to go through with such a plan and…”

“…And let the north and Nilfgaard descend into chaos again should his majesty suddenly depart like Radovid?”

Emhyr had directed his gaze to one of the windows again. Voorhis made a dismissive gesture with his hand. “You surely agree, Miss Yennefer that we can’t wait until they reach that conclusion themselves. If...”

“We will not wait till _anything_ happens.” The cup was set down with a clank. “I have almost a dozen corrupt aristocrats and the trade association waiting back home for me to handle them. And I think we all agree that those aren’t the only people on the continent wanting to see me dead. Obviously we can’t have anybody making concrete plans as to _when_ and _how_. So, I wish for you two to find the bad apple and _pluck_ it out.”

Emhyr directed his words at Yen again. ”Foremost, I need someone reliable to re-examine the protective measures set up around the palace and my personal quarters. And enhance them. ”

Yen nodded “That seems feasible” She asked Voorhis: “How did your agent die?”

“His throat was slit. I was to meet him later that evening.” He replied. “It seems evident that he knew something.”

“Has someone investigated the side where he was found?”

“Well, a witcher would come in handy for that, don’t you think?” Voorhis looked around but quickly noticed the shift in the room and Yen’s pressed together lips.

“But I’ll look for a qualified huntsman. Together with the coroner, we should manage.”

“See to that right away, General.” Emhyr said. “I understand that time is of the essence when your clues might be decaying or washed away.”

The general bowed to them both and left, the sound of his heavy boots trailing off down the hallway.

She turned around to see the emperor refilling his cup again and taking a sip right away.

“Wine?” He gestured towards the decanter on the table.

She gave it a quick thought but a sharp pain in her temple reminded her of the night before.

“No, thank you… Should I begin right away with examining the safety measures?”

Emhyr appeared slightly lost in thought while ruffling through the papers on his desk.

A condition _most_ unusual for him.

He was staring down on a parchment he apparently dug out from the bottom of the stack.

“Yes.” He said after a few seconds. “Start as soon as possible. You can begin with talking to Captain var Attre. He is the commander of my personal guard.”

As there was nothing more to be said, she nodded and headed for the door.

“Yennefer, I have a question.”

She turned again, surprised.

He was still looking at the document, absently spinning the contents of his cup in small circles.

Yen walked closer, crossing the room again and circling the desk after a second of hesitation in which the emperor still said nothing.

Closing up to him, she carefully peeked over his shoulder.

In the dim light of the candles, she recognized Ciri smiling back from the rough parchment, expertly drawn there in coal.

“…Is that how she looked like recently?”

Emhyr’s dark baritone so close to her ear startled her.

She tried to ignore how much his presence in her personal space threw her off the simple task to just look at the picture.

She believed it was Keira Metz who described this feeling once as “the gravitation of power”.

Concentrating, she observed the picture closer: the messy hair bun, the twinkling eyes and the line of her jaw – the resemblance was uncanny.

“Yes. That’s how she looked when I saw her again for the first time.”

“Where?”

“In Kaer Morhen. Shortly before fighting the Hunt.” A smell of cedar wood and citrus reached her nose, mixed with a pang of aftershave and wine.

She gracefully took a step back to regain her personal space.

“How did you acquire that, if I may ask?”

Emhyr ran his thumb over the edge of the paper before he looked at her again.

“A man in Novigrad made it as he spotted her.”

Not even with the help of the candlelight did his face soften but there was an upward twitch at the corner of his mouth.

“Thank you, Yennefer. You may go now.”

Unsure as of what to make of the event, Yen left the imperial study and headed back to her rooms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> phew, I made it...  
> Just a bit of setting up the tone, exposition and other inevitable things if you want two people to catch a case of the feels in style


	4. Chapter 4

_“Can you reach the stone?”_

_“Yes, but it’s slippery.”_

_Slippery. A word Yen found was fit to describe her current situation. Others were “ridiculous” and “infuriating”._

_Water dripped past her ears._

_High above them, daylight shone in through the opening of the well. It lit the breach in the bricked wall roughly two man lengths above their heads. Perhaps a way out. They would only know if they ever reached it._

_“Are we absolutely sure that you can’t use magic?” Emhyr’s voice sounded a bit strained._

_She looked down on his head between her legs as he carefully tried to adjust her weight on his shoulders._

_His imperial majesty was standing up to his chest in murky water, both hands clinging to gaps and ledges in the rough stone, while she tried not to squeeze his neck too much._

_It was almost laughable._

_She knew that under water, the man was only standing on an inch-wide ledge. His knuckles were white from the struggle to keep them both upright and close to the wall._

_Beyond and under that were only flat stone and the darkness of the water._

_Lots of it._

_She grinded her teeth at Emhyr’s question._

_“I did try only three times, did I? You do see the greenish stuff in the stone? That’s dimeritium.” With the last word she reached for the protruding stone far above her head, trying to use her full size and just barely grazed it with the tip of her fingers again._

_Yen let out a frustrated shout searching frantically for something to hold onto with her other hand. The stone were rinsed smooth at this height of the well, moss overgrown and fitted perfectly into each other without mortar._

_She wagered it to be elven craftsmanship._

_Her fingers found a gap in the rock, barely wide enough to fit her finger tips._

_With her weight suspended on one hand, she pulled herself up off of Emhyr’s shoulders in a massive effort, reaching for the stone and was finally able to close her hands around it._

_Her feet braced against the wall, she was about to hoist herself further up when she suddenly felt a firm hand on her buttocks trying to push her upwards._

_Startled, Yen lost her grip and fell back into the cold water with a loud splash._

_Coughing, gasping and fuming with anger she came back up for air._

_“For_ fuck’s _sake!” Her words echoed up and down the well. Emhyr surfaced again as well, as her downfall pushed him from the wall too. He wiped his face and pushed the wet strands of hair out of his face starring at her furiously._

_“I was trying to help you, woman!”_

_“Then give me a warning next time before you grab my ass!” Yen replied in outrage._

_“Your sensitivity is highly misplaced while we are at the bottom of a well, swimming in ice-cold water!”_

_“I won’t discuss why it might be_ surprising _to have someone touch your behinds while you´re trying to concentrate!”_

_Emhyr began swimming back to the wall under the breach._

_“…Then let us try again.” he said, his back towards Yen._

“Let me try again.” Yen sighed.

The stone-faced Captain var Attre was clearly not thrilled about having a sorceress looking for loopholes and flaws in his work.

Yen had spent the last three days working her way around the castle perimeter. She had spoken to the other mages at court that were responsible for the magic barriers, three black-clad nervous men in their thirties that had been forced into Emhyr’s service some years ago.

...It had made her think about her decision of coming back to Vizima on her own free will, but only for a moment.

As a powerful sorceress, it was only natural to go to a place of political influence. And the war was over.

Emhyr had involved her additionally in the search for a few of the inquisitors of the Eternal Fire in Novigrad. The church didn’t take kindly to the Black Sun flying over virtually any building in the city and some renegade clerks and witch hunters had since attacked a few dozen nilfgaardian soldiers. The emperor, not a big fan of religion in the first place, wasn’t having any of it.

With that and the task of inspecting the security, Yen had been busy from sunrise till sundown for the last days.

She had had divers investigate the moat surrounding the castle, inspect the patrol schedule and read countless dossiers about the present courtiers and their ties to Emhyr.

Captain var Attre and she watched as the changing of the guard took place in the throne room.

“We need to remain extremely watchful. I would like you to double the patrols and men in the main building. Would you consider that an appropriate precautionary measure?”

“Certainly.” The Captain scratched his chin. “But it would certainly be easier Miss Yennefer, if my men an I knew _what_ to watch out for.”

“That I can’t tell you.” She raised one hand as she saw var Attre’s offended look. “Simply because we don’t know yet. I can assure you, that this is being worked on.”

“I don’t like this.” He murmured.

Yen could understand his displeasure. After all, var Attre was responsible for the personal safety of the emperor, a questionable honour in her opinion.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw another man approaching her, almost running.

He was rather small, wearing the garments of a townsman and thick binoculars on his nose. Also he was carrying a folder with a vast amount of papers and sketches almost bursting out of it.

She groaned inwardly.

Giving var Attre a quick bow with her head, she turned and wandered at an appropriate pace in the other direction.

From the sound she could hear from behind her, the man accelerated his steps even more as he saw her fleeing. She picked up her pace as well and almost made it to the door to the inner court yard when he called her name.

“Miss Yennefer, Miss Yennefer! Please, wait!”

Yen didn’t expect him to make a fuss while being in the usually undisturbed throne room. Sounds carried far in here and a few heads turned in their direction. She whirled around to him.

“I have already spoken to you, Master Derrin! The answer is still the same!”

“A word, Miss Yennefer, please!” He came to a halt before her, breathing heavily.

“If his Imperial Majesty has such a request for me…” She began in a low voice. “…he can and _would_ ask me myself.”

Derrin clutched his folder to his chest, looking terrified. “Miss, I beg you… You can’t possibly ask me to tell him that. I’ll be hanged and quartered.”

She mustered him and grimaced as she realized that the man would follow her anywhere. For him it was either facing her or Emhyr.

“Ugh, fine. I’ll answer your questions.”

“Oh, thank you so much! I shall draw a portrait of your beauty once I completed his Imperial Majesty’s request…!”

“When exactly did you receive this _request_ , if I may ask?” she interrupted him.

“Two… Three days ago, a nilfgaardian sergeant appeared before my door, demanding of me to pack my things up and come with him. I was brought before the Emperor and asked to make a painting of his daughter, the princess Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon… A grand memento…! When I respectfully asked for reference, I was told to go to you…” The man looked up at her like a kicked puppy and Yen started to take a pity on him.

“And where, Master Derrin, were you summoned from?”

Derrin had fumbled open his folder and taken a piece of coal from one of his pockets.

“B…Beauclair, why?”

Yen sighed.

Dragging an artist hundreds of miles to Vizima and setting the desperate and scared man on her heels without telling her anything of it seemed indeed like something Emhyr would do. Not to mention the odd fact, that he apparently wished for a painting of Ciri. Specifically a life-sized one.

_A grand memento._

She shook her head. Certainly not Emhyr’s words.

A few minutes later, a grim looking Yen walked by the guards in front of the imperial study carrying her Potestaquisitor and a bag full of crystals, closely followed by a Master Derrin who was scribbling down every word the disgruntled sorceress told her.

Two high ranking officers were leaving the room at the same time the unlikely pair entered it.

Emhyr was standing in front of one of his well-stocked bookshelves. He pulled two heavy-looking volumes out and glanced at Yen and Derrin as he returned to his desk.

Startled, Derrin stopped in his steps when he spotted the man and took a hasty and deep bow, before hurrying after Yen like a lost duckling.

“Master Derrin. I’m pleased that you have found my court sorceress.” The emperor sat down and pulled one of the books closer to him. “Yennefer, to what do I owe the visit?”

Yen caught the unspoken chastise in his words since she wasn’t summoned or asked to be. She decided to ignore it.

“I have yet to examine the magic barriers around the study. I’ve asked Master Derrin to accompany me since his task seemed rather important as well. I thought he could ask me what he wished to know while I complete my work.”

Emhyr shot her a glance that normally had grown men drop to their knees and beg for mercy, before picking up his quill.

She shot him a glance that made milk sour.

Derrin quite obviously didn’t like the situation he had been put in. He dabbed his forehead with a handkerchief before huddling closer to Yen.

Yen began to place the crystals around the room by the windows and was satisfied to see them beginning to glow one after the other as they picked up on the energy of the barrier.

The artist followed her to the window behind Emhyr´s desk. “So, Miss Yennefer…” He cleared his throat quietly. “I wish to have a better picture of the kind of person the princess was… Apart from her outer appearance. It gives a picture a lot more life since I can’t draw from the model itself.” His eyes nervously flickered into the direction of the emperor, but the steady scratching of pen on parchment persisted. “Could you tell me something about her? Did you knew her that well?” His voice grew fainter with every word until he just looked at her pleadingly.

Yen suddenly felt a pang of guilt for the bringing the poor man along only to see how Emhyr would react.

And there was also the part of her that could not ignore that she was about to lie.

Because Ciri wasn’t dead.

And yet her estranged father apparently wanted a painting of her.

She never considered, _thought_ that Emhyr was quiet possibly mourning his daughter. She had assumed Ciri would never be spoken of after her arrival. How foolish.

She sighed.

Luckily, Derrin took it for a sign of grief.

“Well…” she said in a low voice while keeping her fingers busy with the crystals. “Ciri was quite extraordinary. Not just because of her heritage but as a human being. If you were in trouble she would come for you. No matter the cost or effort.”

Derrin listened to her attentively with glistening eyes. He had put down his notes. Like many people from Beauclair he seemed to have a soft spot for heroic tales.

And it apparently helped her narrative outwardly that she felt like a total wretch on the inside.

“Apparently there had been one incident with a certain Phillip Strenger, the Red Baron, in Velen were she slew a basilisk and saved his life. Strenger took her in after she had been badly wounded. She had just won a horse race against him when the beast swooped down, snatched the Baron up and carried him off to a tower where its nest was. Don’t ask me how the race came about. I seriously don’t know. She was probably challenged.”

The scratching had stopped. Between her words, there was near total silence in the room. She looked over to where Emhyr was sitting with his back towards them in a relaxed pose, head resting on one hand, apparently reading.

“Ciri tried to climb the tower but it was hard to tell if she would get there in time…” she continued.

The chamberlain, Mererid entered while she talked, carrying a tightly packed case of scrolls. Undoubtedly Emhyr’s afternoon correspondence. He bent down to the emperor to say something but Emhyr lifted his hand and made a slight but impatient motion whereupon Mererid bowed and left quickly.

“She apparently arrived just in time at the top of the tower to help Strenger out of a tight spot. She cut of the beasts head.” Yen tried a smile at the amazed Derrin. She knew that sparkle in his eyes from Dandelion and had an idea that the artist had just found his motive.

She had to clear her throat and went past him to place the next crystal.

“Miss Yennefer, do you happen to know what a basilisk looks like in detail.”

Yen opened her mouth but found she was at the end of her ability to describe things poetically.

“Like…Like a big chicken… With scales?”

Emhyr coughed.

The sorceress looked in his direction just to see him turning another page of his book.

Derrin seemed disappointed.

“Master Derrin, would you resume your questionnaire at some other time?” Emhyr’s quiet voice carried easily across the room, confirming her hunch that he could have easily overheard their conversation.

Derrin flinched at being directly addressed and bowed hastily to them both. “Certainly.” he said.

And left, bowing again at the door and almost colliding with the door frame.

“…An interesting choice.” Yen found after a few seconds.

“The best one, I’ve been told.” Emhyr said, closing the book with a loud thud.

Yen again felt her heart drop a tiny bit.

She saw how the emperors hands were opening and closing, something she had come to interpret as stress.

Gathering her bag with the remaining crystals, she stepped closer to the table in the middle of the room.

Emhyr turned his chair towards her and leaned back.

A single strand of black hair was hanging into his face and he absently smoothed it back while looking at her. He seemed tired, if his more frequent blinking was an indicator.

“It was not my intention… to bring you into this _idée fixe_ of mine. To this extent, mostly.” He said and began scratching his chin. “I just thought…” he trailed off. Yen felt her heart dropping some more. This lack of concentration. Where was the rigid pose?

The menacing stare?

“…The one you have is a little old?” she offered, gesturing to the painting of an angry Cirilla in a pink dress on the wall. She immediately regretted it.

He looked at her surprised, watched her intently like he was searching for a hidden meaning, a sharp edge.

Then a faint smile crossed his face.

“Yes. It is.”

She smiled as well.

Then she noticed something strange.

…The humming.

The humming of her crystals was gone.

The first drops of adrenaline already rushed through her veins as she looked around to find not one of them was glowing anymore. She turned to Emhyr to see him reaching for one of the scrolls on top of the pile Mererid had brought.

The potestaquisitor at her hip started vibrating as she made another step into Emhyr’s direction while he was about to break the black seal n top of the parchment.

She heard herself scream: “ _Don’t!_ ”

It was too late.

The scroll in his hands turned into a white flash that drew sharp shadows across the whole room as she jumped forward, getting a hold of Emhyr’s sleeve.

The fraction of a second later, the emperor, the sorceress and every document inkwell and book on the desk where sucked away into an opening portal.

Her lungs wanted air.

She felt Emhyr’s doublet under her fingers and she clawed into it as they were thrown around in the howling black space between two places.

You couldn’t breathe while traveling through portals but she hadn’t been able to fill her lungs properly, had exhaled instead.

This was what Geralt had always hated about those things.

Geralt.

She was afraid.

Terrified of where they might land.

_In a pit with sharpened, shit-stained sticks._

_In a monster den._

_Hundreds of feet below the sea._

She opened her mouth in horror, screaming despite her lack of air.

Screaming the only thing that came to her mind.

The one person that might save her.

Geralt.

“ _Geraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalt._ ”

It turned into an inarticulate shriek as they fell out of the portal into chilly air and darkness.

Emhyr grunted as he collided with stone.

The impact made her lose her grip on him before she collided with the same unforgiving material.

Then more falling.

Some light far above her.

_It’s the pit. We’re falling into a deadly pit._

Then water.

Ice-cold water.

And then nothing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ufffffff. Its a long one. Very fun to write. Had four coffees. - No beta. if you find any gross inaccuraries tell me. Its midnight around here.


	5. Chapter 5

“The tunnel leads upward. That much I can tell.”

“Finally some good news. We need to hurry. It is getting uncomfortably cold down here.”

If Emhyr had not pointed it out himself, his blueish lips would have been a good indicator as well.

Yen herself wasn’t in a better state. Her arms and legs felt like lead from the struggle to get up the wall and violent shivers shook her from time to time, reminding her of her wet clothes.

“You need to throw me your overcoat.”

“Is your plan to destroy it for a makeshift rope?”

“Yes.”

He took it off.

She laid down and crawled back to the edge of the well and managed to grab the heavy brocade cloth of it as he threw it upwards.

Eskel and Lambert would have argued until dawn before giving her one piece of their clothing for any purpose whatsoever. Even if it would have saved them from the bottom of a well.

Not Geralt though. He would have only asked why _his_ clothes were better fit for the task.

Yen smiled bleakly as she used a sharp rock to cut through Emhyr’s mantle. She found that she liked when men saw the necessity in trusting her plans without asking an unnecessary amount of questions.

A few minutes later, after finding a place to tie the very expensive rope and throwing Emhyr the other end, she grabbed the man’s hand and pulled him up the last bit into safety.

She fell backwards and he landed on his hands and knees before her.

They both breathed heavily.

“Melitele’s tits. You’re heavy.” she groaned, not entirely ready to get up again yet. She did not know if the emperor had some kind of exercise planned into his busy days but she was very much unused to scaling walls or any activities that caused sweat.

Emhyr got to his feet. He was drenched, knees and forearms covered in mud and the tension around his jaw seemed to come from the effort of keeping his teeth from rattling.

Apart from that, he still looked very much unfazed. There was determination in his eyes as he walked past her.

“Let’s get out of here.”

Yen slowly got up and looked after him with a bad feeling. She was everything but thrilled by the prospect of going deeper into the tunnel without any source of light. It was also apparent, that its man-height ceiling quickly descended after a few meters. The stench of rotting matter and foul water coming out of it was hard to tolerate.

But staying here wasn’t an option.

She followed him into the dark, up the tunnel, which indeed became lower and steeper at the same time.

Soon Yen had to half climb, half crawl after Emhyr as it grew black around them. The well disappeared behind the up leading curve of the passage.

Was it a passage?

…What if it truly was just a dead end?

The ground under the sorceresses’ hands and knees was squashy, cold and slightly oily and mild panic grabbed her as her back hit the ceiling after a few more meters. She strongly disliked confined spaces.

No, she truly _hated_ them.

It was a dead end for sure. She couldn’t use magic. She would get stuck. They would both get stuck and die down here.

Something touched her face and she flinched away, squinting her eyes shut and covering her face with her forearm before she could scream.

It was a root. Only a root.

“Emhyr?” Her voice sounded strained, trembling.

He must have heart it too.

She could barely make out the outlines of his boots and legs before her as they stopped.

“Yes?”

“How…Can, can you see something?”

There was a short silence in which Yen could only hear her quickened breath.

“There is daylight ahead.” he said. ” But I doubt that I can fit through the opening like this. Some kind of root is in the way and a few stones. If we can push them out of the way…We can get out.”

She nodded, still nervous but a little relieved. “Okay.”

“I think it would be best if you tried first and I follow you. I have to slim down. We need to switch position.”

He began to move backwards. Yen saw how he twisted his upper body to get back out. How he apparently was not able to get his arms past his shoulders because the tunnel was too narrow.

She felt panic rising again in her throat like bile.

They climbed back slowly and as soon as she could turn herself again, she leant herself against the rough wall, breathing uneasy. Even her own clothes seemed too tight now.

Emyhr slid past her with surprising ease and looked at her questioningly.

She shook her head. “I can’t go in there. I’ll get stuck and block your way out as well.”

“That is unlikely. You are much smaller than me.”

She just shook her head again, fighting against the feelings trying to overwhelm her. The dark of the tunnel seemed to crawl towards her. “I can’t! I’m sorry…”

“Look, if I can squeeze through, which I think I might, it would be quite the accomplishment for you to get trapped.”

She pulled her legs up to her chest, still shaking her head.

He pursed his lips. “I never took you for an irrational person.”

“ _I know it’s not rational_!” she shouted.

The only person she ever told of her claustrophobic tendencies had been Geralt...

Of course it had been Geralt.

There was not a single other person she had _ever_ confided in. It was private. Very private.

And having to explain herself to Emhyr var Emreis irritated her to no end.

The emperor looked at her, crouched together before him. There was mud all over both off their clothing, in their hair and faces.

“You don’t need to apologise.” he said. “We will get out of here.” She closed her eyes and concentrated on getting her breath to even. She wanted to believe him, knowing how fear and exhaustion could affect her judgment. “We haven’t spoken of the possibility yet, that someone might be waiting for us to emerge from the well.” She said after a few moments of contemplation, but got no answer.

Yen opened her eyes again to see Emhyr taking off his belt, regalia chain and the black-red doublet he was still wearing.

“What…What are you doing?” she asked puzzled.

He got up and grabbed the makeshift rope from the edge to the well before returning to her.

She watched as he meticulously folded up his clothes, put the gold chain on top and finally pulled his white shirt over his head and folding it up as well.

Yen slowly raised an eyebrow. “Did you hear me, your majesty?”

“Yes.” He used the rope to tie his discarded clothing into a tight bundle. “One: I need to be slimmer if I want to make it out of here. And two: I think it is unlikely. I’m not sure we ended up where we were supposed to teleport in the first place.”

“I agree. The spell was most likely weakened because I was dragged along. But someone might have located us already.” she said while making a point out of ignoring the sight of the bare imperial chest in front of her. A surprisingly hairy one.

Emhyr nodded while tying the other end of the rope around his ankle. “Let’s hope that my men are the ones to find us first.”

His chest and shoulders where those of a man used to wielding a sword and there was grey peppered in the trail of hair leading down his abdomen.

“Is something the matter?” He looked at her.

Yen averted her eyes, slightly irritated. “No. Just an… unusual situation.” She tried to supress the urge to come up with some ambiguous wording about how apparently only beards were considered hard on the eye in Nilfgaard.

She had spent too much time with Geralt, clearly.

He nodded and grabbed a handful of the oily mud from the ground. “Help me with this. I need to be… _greasy_ to fit through the last bit before the surface. I’ll make sure to clear most of the obstacles out of your way.”

Yen made a face at the word but nodded as he turned his back towards her. Something told her that Emhyr knew what he was speaking off.

She hesitated to touch him at first.

It was such an intimate sight of this very powerful man; she couldn’t help but feel… compromised. The pale skin before her was dotted with a few liver spots and a birthmark above his left shoulder blade. But the feeling in her stomach got even worse when she noticed the long silver lines stretching in a criss-cross from his neck to his hips.

She knew exactly how old scars looked like.

And there were probably only a handful of people in this world that knew that Emhyr var Emreis back was full of them.

She helped him to spread the dirt over his upper body until he looked like a dockhand that lost a brawl on a rainy day. “Is this a good plan?” she asked.

“It’s the only one we have.” He sighed. “Let’s get this over with.”

He nodded in her direction, still looking like the emperor but on the other hand very much not and then climbed back into the dark.

Yen followed him. Followed the bundle he was dragging behind. Her throat tightened up again as soon as she could feel the walls and ceiling closing in but she concentrated on the bundle that kept moving forward in jerky intervals.

Squinting into the almost black beyond it, she saw Emhyr’s black boots and pants and the pale skin of his upper body that, just in that moment, disappeared upwards as he squeezed past a particularly tight spot between two stones.

She followed him again and past that spot; first her arms, her head and her right and then left shoulder. The panic came back.

Her chest didn’t seem to fit and she felt like suffocating.

“Grab the bundle.” Emhyr’s muffled voice reached her.

“What?”

“Grab the bundle and pull yourself up.”

Yen looked up to see a shimmer of grey daylight shining past his frame, almost directly above them. The man had pressed his shins and back against the walls of the tunnel, bracing for her weight.

She exhaled and grabbed the thing dangling in front of her and pulled. The effort tore a few buttons from her top and she asked herself how in the world Emhyr managed to get past those stones.

“You’re through?”

“Yes.”

He resumed his climb, struggling past a thick root and she heard him curse in nilfgaardian.

The walls left and right of her were never wider than her shoulders, often the opposite but Yen kept climbing and crawling upwards with the daylight coming nearer and nearer. A strange anger swelled inside her.

She would not die here. Not today. No matter what was down here or at the surface.

Emhyr heaved himself out of her view and the bundle stilled above her head as he apparently looked around.

She stopped, listened.

“ _Stronthe_.” she heard him say.

Suddenly the bundle shot upwards and disappeared as if someone pulled at the rope with a lot of force.

Yen suspected the worst and doubled her efforts, reached the rim of the tunnel and staggered to her feet once outside, ready to fight or to flee. Whatever made more sense.

Her eyes only adjusted slowly to the light, though it was already late afternoon.

Emhyr kneeled a few feet away beside a corpse.

The stench that had been prominent in the well and on their way upwards was even worse now. Looking around, Yen took in the scenery of a long destroyed village that slowly had been swallowed by the swamp around it.

The opening of the well was a little to the left and turning herself she discovered that their small escape path had ended between the roots of what must have been a giant oak tree once.

Three bloated bodies of men in armour lay on the ground beside where Emhyr looked down on them. Maggots had already claimed them.

“These have been dead for at least two days.” she said while walking over to him. She wanted to scold him for startling her but decided against it. A little stream of swamp water flowed from the three corpses to the opening in the ground Yen had just emerged from.

She wrinkled her nose in disgust as she realised _what_ exactly they had been walking and climbing in.

Emhyr wiped a bit of the dirt from his face. “I thought getting out of that damn thing would _solve_ a few of our problems.” He turned to her. “Can you teleport us out of here?”

She tried.

But nothing but a small spark came from the tip of her fingers.

“The dimeritium is still too close. And if I’m honest: I’m far too tired.”

He nodded and gestured at the corpses in front of them. “They don’t look like they’ve been attacked. And they don’t bear the colours of any house. But commoners rarely carry crossbows and blades from Kovir…”

“Bandits?”

“Possible. But I wouldn’t count on it. They might have been part of this whole plot.” He undid the knots around the bundle and put his shirt and the doublet back on. Yen inwardly breathed a sigh of relief. It had been hard to concentrate and take the man seriously when he was half-naked, even if she would have never admitted it.

Harsh wind made the water in the ponds and puddles around them ripple and reminded her of involuntary bath. A violent shiver shook her.

“Where are we anyway?” Emyhr finished buttoning up his doublet and put the heavy gold chain back around his neck. The fact, that he was still covered in mud made the gesture seem obsolete but at least he looked a little bit like himself again. And Yen knew that she was in an equally sorry state.

“South of bald mountain it seems.” She could spot the prominent landmark in the distance. “That is not the direction we should head in. And we need to move, that much I know.”

“Enlighten me.”

“Well, bald mountain is territory of the crones, though there is only one of them left. Trust me, we don’t want to run into her. She and her sisters have been holding claim over this land long before any of us were born. And they like human flesh.”

“Delightful.” Emhyr said and frowned. Apperently he had spotted something. He took a stick and carefully lifted up a finger of one of the corpses. A black ring stuck to it. As he tried to grab it, the whole finger came off with a chilling sound.

He picked it up without blinking and pulled the ring off, before flicking the finger away.

“And those men…” Yen continued. “They were killed by wraiths. The wide open mouths, the cramped fingers… Everything without a sign of outside influence.”

Emhyr stashed the ring away. “They look like they have been poisoned... Did the witcher tell you about all this?”

Yen looked away. “Traveling with him for years had to leave some kind of mark.”

“Apparently only one you.”

She whirled around and the expression in her face must have been quiet fierce for it got even Emhyr to row back on his words. “I… _meant_ to say, that you are much more sophisticated than him, Yennefer.”

“Coming from _you_ , that _certainly_ is a compliment.” She turned around again and wrapped her ruined jacket tighter around herself. “The wraiths are probably linked to the well or this settlement so we _need_ to get out of here before nightfall. Which is about three hours away.”

She started walking south and Emhyr caught up with her after a few steps.

He threw her a sword he took from one of the dead and had equipped himself with another and a crossbow.

“Do you know how to use one of those?” he asked.

“Barely. But it’s better than nothing, I suppose.”

Emhyr nodded, adjusting the sword belt. “Let’s hope we will not need them.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note that I have to work normally again... I thought I'd have enough time to update regularly but my exams are also nearing so that is why i'm so late. I hope you liked this chapter so far: It had been a little hard to write and those two are idiots.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, sorry for the inconvenience. I uploaded yesterday but noticed that it was the wrong draft... ops.  
> Here chapter 6. Chapter 7 is in the pipeline for later this week. - since I was gone for so long. :D

They had walked for two hours.

Yen had commented dryly, that their luck must have been back with them because they didn’t encounter any water hags or ghouls.

Only two confused looking drowners had crossed their path. Emhyr took the first one out with his crossbow while the monster was still 20 feet away.

The other one managed to jump at Yen but she was able to evade its first attack, before it got decapitated by Emhyr’s sword.

It irked her. She was not used to feeling like dead weight. Especially not next to one of the crowned heads of the continent, who usually were the ones that had to be protected.

Swinging her sword, she noted darkly, that it might as well be a poker.

The swamp was rising to their knees, making it hard to walk, while the sun continued its inevitable way to the horizon.

She had to remind herself to keep aware of their surroundings but her fatigue dulled her senses. It was clear that they needed to find shelter before night break. They needed fire. Fresh water. Food, if possible: All things the swamp would not provide on its own or only with a catch.

The water was foul, lighting a fire would draw attention and edible food was sparse.

Her thoughts drifted as they trudged onwards through swarms of insects.

_If I die here, will you come looking for me?_

_Will you trace our footsteps; find the well, the other corpses and then me - Somewhere in this hostile environment, long dead, my bones gnawed clean?_

_…Will you be sorry then?_

Her self-pity was interrupted by Emhyr.

“There.”

She turned her head and looked into the direction he was pointing in.

Narrowing her eyes, Yen could make out the outlines of a hut and a much bigger and deeper body of water behind it. The relatively fresh wind on her face smelled of salt water, telling her that they must have reached the coast. Or some secluded part of it.

“I don’t think that’s wise. Could be occupied. By monsters _or_ humans.”

Emhyr gestured at the setting sun. “We’re running low on options.”

“That’s all we seem to do today.” She sneezed. “…Let’s go then.”

About twenty feet away from the cabin Emhyr put a hand on Yen’s shoulder, stopping her. “You wait here. Alert me if anything suspicious happens.” He drew his sword.

Agitated, Yen looked at him passing her. “What, do you want me to hoot like an owl?”

“Whistling will do fine.”

She made a face. Not at his retort but that he apparently thought her to be useless too while being obviously in a similar state: Staggering while walking, blueish lips and he had breathed quiet heavily for a few minutes after taking out the drowner.

The man’s composure was astonishing and Yen promised herself to not yield by one inch. She was far too proud for that.

For a few minutes nothing happened after Emhyr disappeared inside the hut. The wind swept over the grass around her and some strange bird called in the distance, then the door opened again and he waved in her direction.

Relieved, Yen followed him and entered through the low doorframe.

The hut apparently had belonged to a fisherman at some point. Old nets were rotting in one corner, the roof caved in one side and it smelled like rotting seaweed. There was no bed or other furniture. It looked more like a storage room with a small fire place and a wooden pillar in the middle, holding up the rest of the thatched roof.

Emhyr was going through the contents of a small chest, inspecting some old sailcloth before putting it to the ground beside him.

“Do you think anyone might still be out there looking for you, apart from your men?” Yen asked, dropping to her knees in front of the neglected fire place in the middle of the shack. Every bone in her body protested.

“I don’t know. I can only assume that Voorhis and var Attre have already arrested the court mages and are interrogating them. The Alba Division is most likely searching for us.”

“True.” Yen remarked darkly while piling up twigs and lighter wood in the sooty middle of the fire place. Something dawned on her. “Since they probably believe that I abducted you.”

Emhyr stopped and turned to her. “That is quiet possible. I did not think about that until now.” He seemed distraught by the idea that such a thing had escaped him.

Yen gruffly arranged a few bigger logs in a tent-like shape around the twigs. There was enough wood to keep a small fire going for a couple of hours. But like everything else in the small house, it was damp. “Me neither.” She replied. “We’re both tired and we’re losing body heat constantly.” She did not intent to share some of her more pessimistic thoughts on their situation with him. He was well aware, that they were in deep shit. Pointing it out would not change anything except make her look anxious.

She concentrated and snapped her fingers but no sparks emerged.

“I can…” Emhyr began.

“No, I got this.” She repeated the gesture. Still nothing.

Increasingly frustrated her mind reached out, looking for a life source to draw from, something, anything.

_There._

The poison ivy curling itself through one of the small windows crumbled to dust as Yen squeezed every last bit of energy out of it. A small flame grew on the palm of her hand as she snapped her fingers again. The warmth caressed her face deliciously.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Emhyr watching her, the light reflecting in his eyes.

She blew on the flame carefully and it wandered towards the wood pile and disappeared between the twigs. For a second, Yen thought it had gone out but then, a warm shine spread around the nearly dark hut.

Yen reached out again, finding a few fish at the bottom of the small lake outside and strengthened the spell. With a hiss, the water vaporized from the logs and the warmth on their faces turned into heat as the fire grew bigger.

Emhyr caught her before she could hit the ground.

“Most impressive.” He said while helping her to sit up again. His hand remained lingering on her shoulder in case she toppled over again. Her sight swam. “This is embarrassing. Normally I could melt the stones underneath the pit effortlessly.” she murmured, watching Emhyr put another log on the now burning pile. She didn’t miss the moment he closed his eyes in sheer bliss as the heat hit his outstretched hands and face. “This is quite dangerous.” He said nonetheless. “The fire might attract anyone around in a matter of minutes.”

“Need to keep it low then. We’ll freeze to death without it.”

He nodded and stood up before disappearing outside for a few minutes. Yen absently watched him grab a few items he had found in the chest earlier while she scooted closer to the fire. When he returned the sun had finally sat. Emhyr used the hilt of his sword to hammer a small stake into the wooden floor and tied the end of a thin string to it. The other end disappeared out the door.

Yen turned around and saw how he fastened a few small bells on the string.

“An alarm system?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“Where did you find the bells?”

Emhyr stood up and Yen had to bite back an overtired chuckle as she heard his knees cracking loudly. “I believe they are used with crab traps. There are several more in the chest over there.”

She smiled lightly instead. “Impressive.”

Emhyr threw her the stack of sailcloth he found earlier. “I suggest you get some rest.”

She unfolded them. There were three fairly blanked sized pieces and she frowned as he sat down by the fire without any of them.

She looked at him folding his legs and laying his sword in front of him, before leaning against the wooden pillar. “You’re planning to stay awake to keep watch.”

He nodded and began peeling of his doublet before spreading it out on the floor to dry.

Then he gestured to the floor beside him, an invitation to settle down.

Yen took of her own jacket as well and kicked off her shoes. “Then wake me halfway through the night.”

“No, you will sleep as much as possible. I can handle this.”

Yen frowned. So he was going easy on her. “If this is about the… incident in the well, your majesty, I can take care of myself.” She held up the blankets. “There is no need to smother me. In fact, that would be much uncalled for.”

“I’m not smothering you.” He seemed agitated. “You are our best chance to get out of here alive. All resources at our disposal should be used by you so you can open a portal in the morning.”

Yen opened her mouth just to close it again. She was tired of arguing. The warmth made her sleepy; almost sleepy enough to ignore this irritating man and her dry throat and rumbling stomach. Almost.

She saw him shiver, visible only in a slight tremble in his shoulders and jaw.

Sighing, she wrapped herself in the rough fabric of one of the blankets and struggled out of her clammy trousers and the once white blouse underneath. They were put next to her other clothes.

Emhyr caught the blanket she threw at his chest and watched her come over to him.

“I’m tired of arguing.” she repeated her thought. “It’ll be warmer faster, if you help.”

He looked at her for a second, face unmoved and nodded finally.

She turned away as he got rid of his own shirt. His boots flew past her in a low arch and landed before the fire.

Yen closed her eyes for a second.

She couldn’t say why she insisted on this. It seemed more feasible to make him believe that she needed more warmth than trying to get him to accept that sharing what little comfort they had was more beneficial for _both_ of them. Not that she was particularly keen on sharing a blanket with him, but it was logical to huddle together, their needs reduced to the most basic ones. And yet... a small part of her was exited, or at least intrigued. It was the part that had always enjoyed watching Geralt crawl towards her with hungry eyes when they shared a bed.

He wrapped himself in his blanket while she put one more log on the fire. The sorceress was about to settle beside him when he shook his head and nodded to the space before him. Between his legs.

She stopped and crossed her arms before her chest. “No.”

“What, do you think I’m some low-life scum with no self-control? You want warmth? This is the fastest way.” Judging from Emhyr’s expression she was seriously testing his patience.

The gods were testing _her_.

Being trapped in a life-or-death-situation with a man that managed to completely ignore any sexual innuendo that could come from being close to each other half-naked was more than irritating.

For a brief second she saw Geralt looking up to her, invitation on his face and a sly smile.

Emhyr did not smile. But there was a certain sincerity about his gaze, waiting for her to move as well as impatience.

His composure stood unwavering. She was still too proud to fall behind in any way.

Without further ado she sat down and handed him the third blanket.

He wrapped it around both of them as soon as she settled against his chest and she allowed herself to exhale contentedly.

It wasn’t warm yet but the fabric was dry and the fire crackled quietly before them.

The wind howled outside.

Yen could feel his chest slowly rising and falling behind her. Naked feet and legs in black trousers were stretched out on each side of her and strong arms rested close to her shoulders without touching her.

“This feels like a bad novel.” She broke the silence with a huff, unable to keep to herself.

“Does it now.” Emhyr’s aloof voice was close to her right ear. “Am I the damsel in distress then? Since you jumped into that portal after me.” The now weaker smell of cedar wood and citrus was back in her nose and her heart skipped a beat.

“Nevermind.” she said.

The silence returned.

She slowly could feel herself getting more comfortable in Emhyr’s embrace. His body heat began to seep through the blankets. It was questionable though, whether she would be able to fall asleep with those warm puffs of air caressing her bare shoulder.

“I believe you have a question.” he said after a while. She went stiff again.

“…I’m not sure to what you are referring.” Yen replied truthfully but careful, putting her guard back up.

“Is it about my back?”

Her silence apparently told him everything he needed to know.

A low rumble shook his chest as she was still figuring out how he had got onto it. Did he really notice her brief hesitation earlier in the tunnel?

“I didn’t mean to pry… I’m very sorry.” She half expected to hear the ice in his voice clinking again, she wanted to immediately get up and…

Emhyr shifted slightly behind her. “Your fear of confined spaces... I can understand it. A long time ago, men chased… a boy through a landscape similar to this.” He paused. Yen waited for him to decide how to go on, not sure what to make of his sudden talkativeness or were this was going to go.

“…He managed to evade them for two days, hiding in fox burrows and small caves but they cornered him eventually. He tried to run again, jumping into another burrow but they send hounds after him. He crawled through total darkness, with the rabid barking behind him closing in and heavy boots over his head. The tunnel got narrower but he couldn’t stop because otherwise they would get him…And then he got stuck.”

She saw how he absently scratched his calf with one hand. “There was no back or forth and he heard the men laughing as they figured out his fate. They were willing to leave him there to die.” She stared straight ahead into the flames, unsure whether she could or wanted to look at him, whether he would approve.

Emhyr continued. His fingers flexed where they lay on his knees. “But one of the hounds got to him. The ferocious beast dragged him back outside.” There was an even longer pause. “They took the boy with them and whipped him until he couldn’t stand anymore… He fled again, one week later.”

She finally turned her head, finding herself face to face with Emhyr only an inch away. He looked back.

Brown in violet.

“Why are you telling me that?” she asked.

“…You earned to know it.” He blinked and broke the eye contact, but Yen had seen a hint of embarrassment before he could turn away, as if he himself was not sure why he had said so much. “Besides… Every last one of those men died. A few years later.”

Yen nodded and the corner of her mouth twitched. “I wouldn’t have expected anything less.”

The sorceress could almost sense the turmoil in him. He was exactly like her in that regard. The boy he presumably had been could never be blamed for running, for not being strong enough and yet… he felt shame. Or maybe she was just presuming things which were not there, projecting her own trauma on him.

_That would be dangerous._

She carefully led her head sink back on his shoulder, testing if he would somewhat object.

He didn’t.

Yen closed her eyes. There was nothing left to say. Emhyr usually had his reasons for everything, even for sharing personal details. Perhaps it was his way of expressing gratitude.

Before she could drift away, she smirked dryly at the absurdity of her situation.

_What would you say if you could see me now?_

“Wake me in a few hours.” she mumbled.

She expected to dream of white sails and white hair. But Geralt stayed away from her sleep that night. Instead she dreamt of hedgehogs and drooling dogs snapping at her feet.

Emhyr didn’t wake her.

She rose startled. Greyish daylight shone on her face and she needed several moments to orient herself and figure out where the hell she was. Her back and neck hurt from the cold and unyielding floor and someone breathed into her hair.

Yen carefully turned her head.

Emhyr’s knuckles touched her back and their legs were still entwined somehow. It looked like he had gently placed her on the floor after she fell asleep and covered her with her blanket but hadn’t been able to keep himself awake.

She snorted, feeling torn between anger and relief.

… _Luckily_ , nothing had killed them in their sleep.

It was not that she intended to use this against the man, but she would certainly remember it.

Getting up and peeling herself out of the rough blankets, she remembered her state of undress and was ready to leap to her clothes but a glance in Emhyr’s direction assured her, that he was sound asleep.

The fireplace still smouldered lightly and with a flick of her fingers, she brought it to new life. Satisfied, Yen reached in the unseen towards her powers. She felt them flow through her again, even though her mouth was incredibly dry and her stomach started rumbling with newfound ferocity.

But skipping a meal or too hadn’t hurt anyone yet.

She noticed the dirt on her skin, under her nails and the sand on her scalp and decided, sneering inwardly, that this was not acceptable.

The air outside was chilly when she hurriedly stepped on the small landing stage of the hut. The wind from the sea had picked up again and goosebumps appeared all over her skin. There were no monsters in close vicinity or at least she didn’t see any.

Not that one or two drowners would pose a challenge to her anymore. Even if she missed something, she was quiet sure to be able to kill them by herself now, without breaking a sweat.

The sorceress took off her black underwear and left it on the stage before hopping into the water.

The cold was a slight shock but nothing against the bliss of getting the itching mud from her skin and out of her hair. She dived two times, rubbing her scalp under water and swimming a few meters in the shallow.

The second time she came up again, she believed to hear the end of a ring. Standing very still, she listened.

The water gurgled against the footbridge and the wood protested softly.

She turned her head.

A soft bright ring. Again.

Then a suffocated gag.

Yen leaped out of the water.

She reached the hut while hearing a heavy thud inside.

Passing the door, she saw two men silently wrestling on the floor beside the fire place. The one on top had a broken nose and blood sullied his bared teeth and chin. He had both his thumbs pressed into the other man’s windpipe. That one desperately tried to gain some leverage from underneath his opponent but without success.

That one was Emhyr, turning slowly blue.

Yen spoke a word calling forth all remaining energy from the fire.

The man looked up to her in the moment her face began to glow orange. There was surprise on his face. It remained there even after his death.

The fireball left a hole of approximately two inches in diameter in his chest before leaving another hole of the same size in the cabin wall on its way out. The whole incident didn’t even take three seconds.

Yen rushed to the wheezing emperor’s side shoving the corpse away before it could fall on him.

He coughed, turning around on his stomach, still fighting to get air into his lungs.

“Shit!” she cursed. “Shit. I was right outside! Where did he come from?!”

“Front.” he managed to bring out, one hand at his maltreated larynx.

She sprung to her feet again, checking the space beyond the front door, fireball ready in her left but found nothing.

Emhyr had propped himself up on his elbows, chest still heaving, when she returned to him. Angry blue and red marks started to appear on his throat. Yen dropped to her knees running her fingers along them. “Can you breathe properly?” He nodded, looking up to her.

It was only then, when his gaze flicked down from her face over her body for the fraction of a second, that she remembered her nakedness.

In fact she was still wet, dripping salt water over him and the floor. Her black curls stuck to her forehead.

She backed away a little and used her hands and forearm to cover her nipples and vulva.

“You feel asleep.” she said. “You didn’t wake me and you feel asleep.”

“And you didn’t wake me…” He coughed again. “…wandering off to take a _bath_?”

“You feel _asleep_. Anything could have killed us!” The adrenaline fuelled the anger she suddenly felt. “We could be dead!” She took her hand away from her breasts and punched his biceps, punctuating her words. “ _Dead_!”

He caught her hand. “Careful!” he snarled, voice still hoarse. Yen didn’t care. What did he want to do? Stare at her menacingly? With all his imperial eminence bruised up and drenched in mud?

She raised her other hand, aiming for his infuriating smooth face this time but he caught it as well, almost crushing her wrists as he bared his teeth at her. “Come to your senses, woman! You are attacking your sovereign!”

“Oh yeah? I like to see…” She pressed back against his grip sending them both toppling over. “…this _sovereign_ getting out of this shit without my help!”

She landed on top of him, both arms still in his grip, one thigh between his legs. She collided with the corpse of his attacker in the process but that didn’t matter either.

Yen tried to free her arms. She wiggled around wanting to pull back but didn’t have the right leverage. Instead, her knee just went further up as they fought in strained silence and got pressed into his crotch.

A stalled short groan escaped Emhyr’s throat.

They stared at each other, breathing heavily. He still held onto her wrists keeping her arms beside her head. Her body was on full display above him she realised. His eyes were fixed on hers but the knowledge was enough.

Yen felt her face getting hot.

Embarrassment.

Anger.

Relief that he still breathed.

Emhyr’s jar was working constantly, as if he himself was struggling inwardly. He kept his eyes stiffly fixed on her face.

Yen opened her mouth. “You are im…” _…possible._ Was what she wanted to say, but Emhyr suddenly let go of her arms and she fell down abruptly, almost hitting her forehead on his nose.

She braced herself on his chest and looked up, still angry.

They locked eyes again.

Under her hands, his heartbeat was unusually fast. Their faces were only inches apart.

She heart the quiet smack as his lips parted and asked herself what they would taste like. Of hunger certainly, somehow sour and chapped like hers.

His chest rose and fell and Yen noticed how the dampness of her own skin made the mud on his come off and leave trails on her again. His skin was incredibly warm, burning into her palms. An image pushed forcefully into her mind where both of his hands raked over her back and she was pressed flat to his chest and…

He cleared his throat and closed his eyes for a second before turning his head towards the corpse next to them and Yen followed his gaze.

The man’s head was grotesquely turned, staring at them with silent accusation.

It felt like someone had poured a bucket of ice water over her.

“Open that portal now, would you?” he asked in low voice.

She nodded, scrambling to get up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a whooping 4000 words. Next chapter is the reason I up'd the rating, so hold tight!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FUCKING FINALLY JFC  
> SLOW BUILD AND WRITER BLOCK MUCH  
> WHO'S WRITING THIS ANYWAY

The young guard standing outside the city walls of Vizima had not been told what purpose he fulfilled here. Only to hold this position and report suspicious things.

To his eyes, there was nothing suspicious or even mildly interesting about this part of the 20-feet-tall wall.

As a one of Captain var Attre’s hand-picked men that he considered trustworthy, he had been informed of the sudden vanishing of his imperial majesty. The first incident he had ever seen his captain this pale before, giving them instructions in a low voice while a stone-faced Morvran Voorhis stood beside him.

The young man leaned heavily on his pike, having taken of his helmet under the smouldering sun that had threatened to melt his brain under the metal since midday came around. The adrenaline and urgency of the situation had faded over time and he had never been more grateful for the care of his sweetheart in town. Even if it usually annoyed him.

She had urged him to take a care package with some bread and dark grapes to duty yesterday evening, as well as a bottle of fresh water. As she did almost every time he visited her.

He thought about how to thank her… if he could ever leave this place. He had been standing here already for more than eight hours without anything happening, suspecting that he might have been forgotten and irritated of the overall purpose of his position.

If something happened to the emperor, - blessed he be - he should be in the castle, helping the others searching, interrogating - not watching hares copulate in the field before him while guarding some lumps of stone.

He turned to take another swig of the bottle that was now almost empty.

Bottle at his lips, he felt a cold breeze pulling at his hair. An otherworldly sound let him spin around, taking his pike into both hands.

The black and orange colours of a portal were pulling at the edges of the trees and grass behind it, right where he had just been looking at moments ago. He grabbed his weapon harder, prepared to fight whatever emerged from it.

Two human forms appeared. The portal collapsed as soon as they stepped out of it.

The first one was that of a beautiful woman clad in black and white. Dark curls cascaded down her back as she approached him and he recognised the court sorceress. The captain’s instructions regarding her had been strict: Arrest but do not harm.

As she strutted towards him, determination in her violet eyes, the young man suddenly became very doubtful of the feasibility of his orders.

“Yennefer of Vengeberg. I… I have to arrest you in the name of his imperial majesty for suspected treason.”

She stopped before him, ignoring his words. “Give me that bottle.” she said.

He obeyed. And watched her put it to her lips and drink greedily, water running from the corner of her mouth. Only a hand on her shoulder stopped her.

The guard drew in a breath when he saw to whom it belonged and hurried to stand at attention, almost hitting himself in the head with the shaft of the pike.

The sorceress passed on his bottle to Emhyr var Emreis’ outstretched hand and he emptied it in one draught.

“At ease.” he said to the guard after setting it down.

What followed would only be a blur of many things for the young man that happened in fast succession. When he tried to recall it days later, he found it very hard to remember any details. Perhaps out of shock that he needed to report _directly_ to Emhyr var Emreis for the first time of his life.

First, the sorceress stepped in front of the city wall, lifting her hands and speaking words in a strange tongue. A passage appeared before them in the stone. Then the rest of his lunch got confiscated by her. The emperor himself questioned him about the situation inside the castle walls. He couldn’t reply much since he had been dispatched to this spot for some time but hurried to summarize what he knew. He followed them both inside while trying to explain himself, unable to get rid of the feeling that he would be beheaded for his ignorance.

The sorceress led the way through a multitude of dark tunnels and past traps with Emhyr behind her and the guard as a tail light.

The imperial chamberlain had been arrested as well; he told Emhyr when he was asked. A fact the emperor apparently did not like. At some point they got to the bottom of an old dried out well. Only the ladder attached to the wall was fairly new and the guard could hear faint noises and the stomping of heavy boots from above.

He watched the emperor having a small discussion in a low voice with the sorceress while she was eating the last of his grapes.

Then he was sent up the ladder to discreetly fetch his captain to the room beyond the trap door. Which turned out to be the servant kitchen of the castle.

The situation in the royal palace, as he found out, had escalated fairly quickly.

Yen threw the empty grape stalk into the tunnel and turned her head towards the light rays coming down from the ceiling. “Mererid’s arrest is surely not pleasant. I don’t believe that he was involved in this. But since he is alive and well why is that a problem now?” She crossed her arms before her chest.

Emhyr had just expressed his displeasure about what happened to his loyal servant.

“The emperor can never be seen in a state of disarray by his subjects.” he said while smoothing his hair back as neatly as possible and controlling the cuffs of his doublet. “The royal chamberlain is an exception from this.”

“Well that seems excessive.”

Emhyr sighed. “Court etiquette usually leaves that impression.”

“Imagine if the poor guy that stood outside the wall will never recover from seeing his sovereign with mud on his clothes. Or worse: a beard shadow.”

“You _do_ sound a lot like Geralt sometimes.”

She felt a pang of sadness but smiled faintly since he couldn’t see it in the dim light. “You do like pointing that out.”

Her boldness went otherwise uncommented.

It was a little awkward how they stood there before the ladder. Two feet apart. Since they were alone, Yen found it suddenly hard to look at the emperor directly and had to fight the age-old human urge to fill the silence between them with chit-chat.

She didn’t _do_ chit-chat. She had never and she certainly wouldn’t start now.

She thought of the hut.

After getting up, Yen had grabbed her clothes from the floor as graceful as possible and had gone outside. Back on the landing bridge she inhaled and exhaled slowly a few times.

It was not like her to hamper herself with things like embarrassment or regret. She could be resentful at times, she knew, but what just happened had been her fault.

She left him sleeping.

She tried to fight him. Naked.

She would have been more than willing to _kiss_ him.

To kiss the emperor of Nilfgaard: something unimaginable in almost every possible scenario or reality.

The idea still made her skin prickle in a pleasant way as the kiss developed in her head and she imagined herself being pulled down by the back of her head, his fingers tangled in her wet hair.

Then she thought of Geralt in Emhyr’s place and then of Geralt shaking his head in disbelief if he knew what had happened in the swamp.

She held back a sigh, very fed up with her own head.

To her surprise it was Emhyr to break the silence with a throat clearing.

Turning towards him, Yen found that he was looking at her.

“You have shown a great deal of devotion for Nilfgaard in the last two days.” he said suddenly.

She was surprised but had grown to wait for him to elaborate his thoughts and was quite sure that he did not need any verbal assessment from her until he had done so.

As he turned his gaze away from her again, she asked herself whether he possibly felt as uncomfortable as her.

“I’ve been wondering where that springs from. Since our common goal…” Emhyr lowered his eyes to a point left from her, his voice calm like he was speaking about crop yields in summer. “…went on to save this world from its sure destruction. And never returned.” A thin strip of light lit up his left eye, making it glow like amber.

Yen frowned, wanting to avoid the topic of Ciri at all costs. “Are you… questioning my loyalty?” she asked.

He raised his head, mild surprise on his face. “Not necessarily. I’m just missing a convincing motive.”

Yen sighed inwardly.

“I’m a sorceress, your majesty. I’m doing what people with my vocation have always done. Helping others rule and ensuring that the continent keeps intact.”

He scratched his chin, looking up towards the trap door. “What a mundane description for meddling in politics for the better part of several centuries.”

The sorceress pondered how she should have known that her evasion attempt would be short-winded. “Well, then let’s not call it devotion to Nilfgaard but… _confidence_ in its current leader.”

He turned to her again, studying her but there wasn’t longer any of the usual cold in his eyes. “I could have you arrested for treason for those words.” It was a fact.

Yen opened her mouth just too close it again and rethought her words. “I… consider myself a mostly good person…” She raised her index finger towards him as if she wanted to halt any reply to that. “That’s why I tried to help you. And like every sorceress the school of Aretuza has ever produced, I’m exchanging some of my power for political influence in my own interest. That’s why I’m at your court. But I’m fairly sure that you already knew that.” It poured out of her in a somewhat uninhibited way she previously would have never used while talking to Emhyr.

“Partly.” came the scarce answer.

Maybe she just failed to see it. Maybe she was just too tired, too hungry still. But she couldn’t bring herself to see the emperor in the man standing beside her, regardless of his heavy gold chain and those features she knew so well that stared down from so many portraits all over the continent.

The beard stubble, the tired, bloodshot eyes and the strangle marks on his neck painted a different picture and she suddenly thought that it did make sense to uphold the image of the untouchable emperor in the public eye.

“I could cast an illusion to obscure …those.” Yen gestured to his neck, realising a second later how she abandoned the initial conversation about her motives completely.

Emhyr seemed fine with that since he took a sideway step into her direction and opened the first button of his shirt to give her better access.

She went and stood in front of him to examine the damage.

The marks were truly prominent: deep purple in some places, others angry red and you could clearly make out where the attacker had pressed his fingertips into Emhyr’s neck.

“Do you have trouble breathing?”

“Well, swallowing is somewhat difficult.”

Yen nodded, conjuring up the image of unharmed skin in her mind before letting her fingers carefully glide over the emperor’s neck. Light shimmered under her palms as the bruises disappeared. “This will hold two hours.” she said. “At best. I suggest you use some kind of make-up in the coming days…”

When she glanced up from her work she found again, that he was looking straight at her.

She looked back, questioningly, not wanting to be the one to break the eye contact. Her hands were still hovering over his shoulders while the silence stretched.

Eventually she began to withdraw, thinking that perhaps he only didn’t say anything to make her realise how much she was invading his personal space. “Or I could prepare an item that you would need to wear with a similar effect.”

“I think I could provide you with something that would serve your interests.” he said suddenly.

Yen stopped a little puzzled, before taking her hands back completely. “…And what would that be?” She raised an eyebrow.

Emhyr’s fingers ghosted along the inside of her forearm to her wrist.

“Distraction.”

Yen looked up into his dark eyes and felt the hairs on her neck stand on end.

“You desire me, don’t you?” Emhyr asked.

Shocked by his forwardness, a lot of answers ran through her mind.

_Yes._

_Was I that obvious?_

_Please leave me my last bit of dignity._

“…I shouldn’t.” She left the ambiguity of her words up to his mind to make sense of them.

He lightly grabbed her hand instead of an answer and she let him lift it up to his mouth, but had to turn her head away as he pressed a kiss to her wrist, light as a feather. It immediately sent sparks down her arm and spine. Yen shut her eyes, supressing a tremble. “Your stunt in the hut.” he murmured against her skin. “Was that intentional?”

“If this is an interrogation, your methods are quite odd.”

His eyes flickered to her face, ever so calculating.

“I’m merely offering you a bargain. A beneficial one.”

She laughed but it sounded a lot shakier then she would have liked. “Getting involved with a sorceress? Some would call that unwise.”

“It is appreciated, that you continue to give me advice even now. But rest assured: I have thought long and hard about this… You can of course decline. ” His face went softer. Most people wouldn’t have noticed. It was more one single wrinkle disappearing from around his mouth.

She shook his hand off. A glint of surprise flashed through his eyes.

Defensively, Yen crossed her arms before her chest. “Not everything is solved with a quid pro quo. You don’t seriously believe that you can get to me with the promise of… an _affair_ , I presume and I’ll be… I don’t know. I’m not even sure what you are _trying_ to _achieve_ with this…”

“Yennefer, I want you.” He interrupted her nonchalantly.

She looked at him astonished.

“Oh, in the name of the Great Sun.” Emhyr sighed in defeat. “Why would you want to complicate this when…”

Her resolve crumbled.

She grabbed his doublet in the front and pulled him close, stopping only an inch from his face. Yen felt his hot breath on her cheek, her heart pounding in her chest as he slowly put his arms around her waist.

She closed her eyes.

Suddenly, light flooded over the floor beside them.

“Your majesty?” an echoing voice called out from above. Captain var Attre.

Fairly startled, Yen looked up and they both promptly took a step back. She cleared her throat. “We’re here!” she called out.

Emhyr was already heading for the ladder. On the first step he paused and looked back at her.

Yen followed him into the light coming from above and there was a short moment were both of them stood close again. There was mild curiosity in his eyes. And hunger.

He resumed his climb.

To say that Captain var Attre was just short of tears while seeing them both ascending from the trap door wouldn’t have been an exaggeration. His lip trembled slightly and he immediately dropped to one knee, his head bowed as soon as Emhyr straightened up. The other three guards he had in tow followed his example, their armour clanking as it hit the wood of the kitchen floor.

“My liege, I have failed you and have disgraced the name of my family. I will never be able to make up for my mistakes …but allow me to escort you to safety one last time.”

Yen raised an eyebrow waiting for Emhyr’s reaction. She felt sorry for the man.

Emhyr blinked. Surprisingly, he ignored the words of his subordinate. “I need a full report on what happened, Captain. Where is General Voorhis? Where are the mages?”

Var Attre raised his head. “In the outer courtyard. We have… a bit of a situation here.” If possible, he looked even more nervous.

Emhyr pursed his lips and walked past the captain into the direction of the kitchen door.

The man got up and locked eyes with Yennefer. “Your majesty, the sorceress…” he began.

“Your life is in her hands, captain.” The emperor called out over his shoulder. “She is the sole reason I’m still standing here.” He made a gesture with his hand. “Guards with me.” The men followed him promptly. Yen and the captain trailed behind. Var Attre hurriedly bellowed a command and the guards took the emperor in their mid, with two others joining them, that had waited outside the kitchen.

“What happened?” Yen asked him. Var Attre regarded her with a wary look, before his military drill kicked in. “In short: While some of my men escorted them to the dungeons, one of the mages freed himself of his dimeritium shackles and activated a spell by biting of his tongue. He screamed “Death to the emperor.” and exploded in a fire ball, killing not only himself but all of the escort and another mage… Or at least that is what we think he screamed. It was hard to understand since his tongue was missing.” His voice echoed in the dimly lit hallway the procession passed on its way to the courtyard. This was the part of the castle usually only used by the dozens of maids and servants of the imperial court. The stone walls were rough and the ground only firmly trampled dirt. However, they did not meet a single soul as they advanced. Turning another corner, bright daylight shone in their faces.

“The explosion destroyed a cage in the courtyard.” The captain finished grimly and Yen suddenly heard an unholy screech coming from the open space beyond the double door.

Emhyr let himself fall back and the men around him as well as their commander moved like a well-oiled machine in front of him and Yen.

Var Attre shouted another word in nilfgaardian and they raised their shields in a protective wall before them.

The sorceress sucked in a breath as they stepped out on the courtyard.

Out in the far corner, pressed up against the outer wall Yen spotted a grey-clad man that tried to avoid the attention of the giant monster which currently had its rear turned toward him.

The basilisk was big, ugly and very furious, snapping after spears trusted at its legs. From time to time the beast tried to open its wings and escape but those were tightly bound together with chains and sailcloth so all it could do was make use of its tail, sharp claws and acid, yet to no avail until now.

Its shriek echoed over the open space filled with nilfgaardian soldiers trying to keep it at bay.

“Look.” Emhyr murmured next to her ear. “A big chicken with scales.”

She turned to him opening her mouth in surprise and indignation but General Voorhis intervened with his arrival.

He looked relieved beyond measure upon seeing his sovereign alive and relatively unscathed as well. Bowing deeply, he exchanged a couple of quiet words with him and Emhyr shook his head and handed him something from his pocket. He bowed again, nodded in Yen’s direction and disappeared into the palace behind them.

“Captain?” Emhyr said mildly “What is a basilisk doing in my courtyard?”

The question got answered on its own as Yen heard a familiar voice call out from somewhere to their right in the near of the stables.

“Please, don’t hurt her! I still need her!” Master Derrin had to be forcefully held back by two men from running towards the monster and meeting a sudden very violent end.

“The painter bought it from a road show, sir. They were in town yesterday.” Var Attre answered dutifully while the whole group surrounding the emperor went to what looked like a hastily assembled barricade out of barrels and hay bales in front of the stables.

“He acquired the assistance of a few men and the royal treasurer, claiming that his majesty gave him order to get whatever he would need for his work.” The captain said in his most neutral voice as they stepped behind the protective wall. “He had a letter with the royal seal to back it up.”

Yen snorted and barely managed to hide her outburst behind a faked cough. Emhyr kept a straight face.

Some maids were treating the wounds of soldiers with acid burns and claw marks in their armour but nobody seemed to be seriously hurt, except from the four covered up bodies lying in the back.

“The third mage is currently still trapped between the monster and the wall. He can’t do anything since his shackles are still on.” Var Attre finished his report.

“Yennefer?” Emhyr began “Can I entrust you with this? I’m needed elsewhere.”

She nodded, turning to the captain. “We will need draconid oil. And silver.”

Emhyr rubbed his chin. “I would appreciate it if nobody else within this castle got hurt today. Not even that… _monstrosity_. I paid for it, after all.” With that, he turned for the palace; four guards following him like they were glued to his heels, leaving Yen and Var Attre behind with the upset Master Derrin and the wounded men.

Yen sighed. “We will need to retrieve the cage then. And we will need more chains.”

Var Attre bowed “ _Mijn creasa at deien_.”

Her plan played out as following:

They distracted the beast with a half cow before being able to get to the cage. After repairing it, Yen went up to the basilisk on her own, the nilfgaardians holding the chains at the ready behind her.

She got its attention fairly quickly and it shrieked sounding like half a dozen rusty door hinges before charging at her.

Yen used a cold crystal from the mahakaman mountains to freeze the giant creature mid attack.

Var Attre immediately mobilised his men and they slung chains around the legs and neck of the basilisk whose flinching eyes were glaring bloody murder at them.

Yen gritted her teeth, having a hard time keeping the spell erect as the monster fought back.

The chains were pulled through the bars of the cage and all available guards positioned themselves at the ends of them.

As the captain gave the signal, Yen undid the spell, shouting “ _Now!_ ” and the men pulled, putting their boots in the ground under the bellowed calls of var Attre. “Bloody bastards! Pull together! _En twe, en twe_!” The basilisk screeched bracing itself against the force but got slowly but surely pulled backwards into the cage.

Yen helped from the front with a few telekinetic blasts and the guards groaned as the monster slashed around in a desperate manner.

It was the strangest game of tug-of-war the continent had ever seen.

\---

It got late. Between getting the basilisk back into its cage and arresting the relieved mage that almost seemed happy to be locked away into the dungeon, the sun had gone down. The royal palace still hummed like a beehive that had been attacked by a bear but Yen decided that it all had to wait till morning. At least everything that concerned her. Emhyr had been back in his study, discussing how to proceed with Voorhis and two secretaries but she did not see the necessity to interrupt them. Her surroundings had begun to spin rather profusely after keeping the monster frozen for such a long time. So after paying the kitchen a quick visit and wolfing down a pastry and a chicken leg, she decided to retire to her rooms.

The hallways were full of guardsmen and she found half a dozen before her room, displaying a clanking salute upon her arrival.

Yen went past them and closed the door.

She almost immediately sunk down on the bed, sighing heavily.

An insisting knock woke her again.

Startled she rose.

It had grown pitch-black outside.

Disoriented, she made her way to the door and opened it carefully.

“Thank the great sun, I was about ready to tell the guards to tear the door down.” There was relief on Mererid’s beaten face. He had a black eye and his lip was badly swollen but otherwise he seemed to have survived his time in the palace dungeons without greater harm.

Yen peaked beyond him to see several maids with buckets of steaming water.

“Pardon my interruption… With regards from his imperial majesty.” Mererid remarked as he saw her gaze. “He told me to see to it, that you have everything you need for the night.” He smiled courtly.

She gave the situation a quick thought and opened the door wider. “I must have fallen asleep…” she said while the servants streamed past her. Mererid carried a plate with a wine bottle and a deliciously smelling meat pie to her writing desk. “Quite understandable.”

She huffed, laughing inwardly. “Well, this is much appreciated of his majesty.” She took one of the glasses the chamberlain had brought for the wine. He dutifully uncorked the bottle.

“I’m glad that you are well, Mererid.” Yen said, while the man poured some of the ruby-red liquid into her glass.

At her words, he went stiff. “Thanks to you, Miss Yennefer. So I have heard.” he remarked in a low voice. He looked at her, his right eyelid hanging strangely limp. “We _all_ have to thank you deeply.”

She nodded hesitantly. Coming from the solemn chamberlain that always seemed like he was sneering at something, this was almost an emotional outbreak. Mererid looked like he wanted to say more on the topic but eventually just bowed deeply. Then he clapped, causing the maids to quickly finish their work and leave the room.

“I wish you a good night, Miss Yennefer.” He bowed again.

Then he was gone as well, closing the door behind him.

Yen looked around in her now again empty rooms and took one more sip of wine before stripping out of her ruined clothes.

They landed in a heap in the corner and she poured herself another glass of wine after downing the first one in a few draughts. Probably not a good idea but hell, who wanted to judge her?

_Well, regards to you too. You confusing bastard._

Keeping in mind their latest… talk, she wasn’t sure what the emperor would do next. _If_ he would do anything besides sending her a bottle of _Erveluce_ through his badly bruised chamberlain.

It frustrated her to feel clueless as to what she should expect.

But if Yen was completely honest, dealing with Emhyr was always one giant bag of frustration and if she was even more honest, it might have been because they were so alike in many aspects.

Resulting in her inability to believe that this cunning and dangerous man had no ulterior motives in anything he was doing.

Yen tested the water in the bathtub with one hand. It was steaming hot and also smelled of some kind of fresh soap, which had produced large heaps of foam on the surface. It would do wonders in driving out the clammy cold that had been sitting in her bones for the whole day.

She let out a moan while sinking down into the tub.

Soaking there for a few minutes while drinking the truly excellent red, she felt herself relax.

It surely had been a long time ago for her to truly appreciate the luxury of a spacious bathtub this much. Yen did have a standard for good lodgings after all, which she had dearly missed in the last days. Deadly danger or not but at least you could take it on in style.

Another knock on the double door made Yen turn her head and peak out behind the mahogany room divider that separated the tub from the rest of the room. “Busy!” she called out.

Odd. Did Mererid forget something? Unlikely.

The door squeaked quietly as it got opened a hand-wide. There was a short silence.

“It’s me.”

She recognised that deep, poised voice on the spot although the wide of the palace hallway distorted it slightly. Her heart lurched.

“Can I come in?”

“I’m… taking a bath.” she called out to the dark beyond the door.

“That doesn’t change my question.”

“Where are the guards?”

“Back in five minutes.”

Yen sighed. After a pause she replied.

“…Well, do as you please.”

She squinted at the person entering her chambers. It was still somewhat hard to believe. “Well, that’s inconvenient.” Emhyr said. “But I guess not surprising.”

Yen looked at his appearance astonished. “What in Melitele’s name are you doing here?”

“Consulting my court sorceress.” He closed the door.

She felt laughter bubbling up in her stomach. The wine had made her a little light-headed. She shook her head in disbelief. “You never cease to surprise me, your majesty.”

“I had to convince Mererid first that your quarters are as safe as mine, possibly even more.”

“Hasn’t the poor guy suffered enough?” She chuckled, making the water around her move in small waves.

Emhyr looked around curiously and began to wander over to her desk, lifting the bottle up.

“He did pick out an exquisite vintage for you… Care for a refill?”

“Gladly. And do help yourself. It’s yours after all.” She said, voice shaking slightly with freshly supressed laughter.

He carried it over together with another glass. She noticed his clean-shaven jaw and the subtle smell of cedar wood accompanying him. He wore a completely black doublet with a high collar, obscuring the strangle marks. He evidently had taken a bath himself. Only the tired eyes remained as a testimony of their shared exertion.

Offering up her own goblet to him, she smiled, feeling relatively at ease in the warm water since the foam still covered large portions of the surface. “I was under the impression that you would bury yourself in the investigation together with the general for the rest of the night.”

“I would have liked to.” He took a sip from his wine and sat down on the chair next to the tub where she usually placed her clothes. He eyed the contents of his cup like he was contemplating the wisdom of drinking it. “I just had trouble to keep listening and reacting to the general’s proposals after a while. My eyes were closing on their own.” She saw him wince ever so slightly while changing his sitting position. “It’s irritating but it will have to wait till tomorrow. Besides, the whole castle is in lockdown. Whoever was after my life will not get a chance to leave.” He took another, bigger gulp.

Yen lifted her glass. “Well, cheers to that.”

Silence settled over the room.

After a few moments and while swirling the rest of the _Erveluce_ in her glass she saw it fit to address the rock troll in the room. “And so you came here, without a warning and despite your body clearly demanding rest.”

He blinked. “I hope you can forgive that I wasn’t invited.”

“But you must be aware that after our talk earlier, I was expecting to have little to _no rest_ if you’d decide to… visit me.”

She let herself sink further into the tub, lifting one leg elegantly and placing it on the wooden rim in Emhyr’s direct view, soapy water running over her skin. A challenge.

Excruciatingly slowly, Emhyr lifted his glass up to his thin lips and drank, his eyes never leaving her face. “I admire your confidence, Yennefer.” he remarked. He reached for the bottle. Water sloshed as she turned herself in the tub, placing both her arms on the rim now, facing him and held her own empty glass out to him.

Emhyr obliged by getting down from his chair and kneeling right next to the tub. He emptied the rest of the bottle into her glass.

“Is this part of an official consultation?” she said teasingly, since he was clearly avoiding her probing. She took another sip, thinking that the wine was indeed an excellent vintage.

“The question I find myself asking…” he said and Yen noticed again how his baritone managed to draw her in. “… is how many thoughts of a certain nature can a sovereign allow themselves to have about a person that is as conflicting and sometimes as inscrutable as you.”

The wine must have had some effect on him as well because his speech was slightly slower, the emphasis different then usual. Which was only natural since the both drank it on an almost empty stomach.

Yen blinked lazily. Her own field of vision was a tad distorted but she could see how his dark eyes were burning into her skin, sliding over her face, her neck and her décolleté and frankly the idea of getting into another long-stretched conversation about the pros and cons of what they were clearly steering towards made her revolt inwardly.

Still, she had to ask, schooling her features into an earnest expression.

One that would deserve an honest answer. “Forgive me, but it is not like you to let state business wait for the sake of enjoying… pleasantries. I find it hard to believe that my presence would be an exception.”

Emhyr nodded, remaining silent for a second. “Perhaps I…” He paused, his gaze turned somewhere on the carpet. “Perhaps I could need some distraction too. That’s all there is to it.”

Yen almost felt the willpower it had cost him to say this out loud, admitting that he might have needs and wishes as well; a weakness he did not allow himself.

Something she had not allowed him too, overthinking his possible plans and motives for something as small as a bottle of wine.

Before he could say anything else or stand up again she had grabbed his chin and pulled him with determination into her direction. He followed her movement, bottle and glass still in hand, the same mild curiosity in his eyes as before in the well.

Their lips met.

Immediately, the danger of the last days, the castle and everything else faded into the background.

It felt like everything this man was, from his smooth jaw to his damn aftershave and the undeniable danger that came with being in his near shot straight to her core and she let out a soft moan.

It was a long kiss. And even though it was slow, testing, she tried to lay a promise of her desire into it by moving deliberately controlled with her mouth while her fingers tightened in the fabric of his doublet and she let her other hand wander to the side of his face. From what she could tell it had the intended effect. His chest rumbled with a low sound, something between a growl and a hum.

The kiss turned more passionate as she opened her mouth, tasting him, tasting quite literally hunger and the sweet red and it seemed to hit a switch within Emhyr. He must have placed the glass and bottle on the floor because suddenly his hands were tangled in her hair and caressing over her shoulder.

Yen slowly broke their kiss which he only reluctantly let happen.

“Would you give me the towel? Before I turn into a shrivelled prune in here.” she said after catching her breath.

He looked quite perplexed for a second before having to put a hand before his mouth to hide his laugh. Tilting backwards he sat up on his heels, shoulders shaking slightly. Yen was at the same time astonished to see him express joy so openly and annoyed at his amusement. “What’s so funny?”

Emhyr turned his face away until he was able to stop smirking. “Nothing. You just come up with exquisite metaphors sometimes. And I’m a little exhausted.” He stood up and handed her the soft white towel, amusement still glittering in his eyes. She stepped out from the tub, water cascading down her form.

The emperor watched her, chest raising and falling in deeper breaths than he usually took.

Yen didn’t bother to dry herself properly, just wrung out the water from her curls, all under his appreciating gaze before beginning to undo his doublet. She did not have enough patience left to draw this out any longer by getting dressed again, waiting for him to make a move or other idle games.

Emhyr’s fingers flexed at his side and she smirked up at him before leaning in for another kiss. He pulled her close by the hips with surprising impatience, lips clashing on hers. The way her breasts got pressed into the stiff fabric on his chest fuelled her inner fire in an aching, wanting way.

She had forgotten how good it felt to take a new lover.

To test the waters, to explore each other eagerly after possibly longing for days.

Emhyr didn’t complain when she pushed the doublet of his shoulders and made quick work of the rest of his shirt buttons.

They were both breathing harder at this point, stealing kisses between getting the emperor out of his clothes while Yen guided them both backwards to the bed.

It was a surprising sight to see Emhyr hop on one leg to get rid of his boots, tossing them carelessly to the ground afterwards. Nothing she ever considered to see in her life time, but now that she did, she wouldn’t have liked to miss it.

She had sat down on the bed and held out one hand towards him as he, now wearing only trousers, approached her.

Instead of gracefully taking it like she imagined, he pushed Yen backwards as soon as he reached her and she gave a surprised yelp, the alcohol making her topple over into the cool covers behind her.

She felt the mattress shift next to her thighs and he was above her, beginning to mouth along her jaw to her collarbone with an intensity she did not think he would be capable of.

She watched him with increasing interest make his way to her left breast and her hand landed in his black hair, stroking and gripping a handful as Emhyr flicked his tongue over her nipple. They were already hard and sensitive after getting out of the bath into the cool air of her room. And _ah_ … Of course, passionate kissing and tearing of clothing had not helped either.

One of his hands grabbed her other breast, starting to massage it. Sword callouses bit into her skin, but in a pleasant way. She jolted slightly as he pinched her other nipple while sucking on the first.

“Of all the things I ever thought about seeing your mouth doing…” she panted “this wasn’t one of them.”

He stopped, eyes flickering up to her face before positioning himself next to her ear. “Well, indulge me, Yennefer.” he almost purred while still playing with her breast, letting his thumb draw circles around her areola. “What _did_ you imagine me doing? That sounds quite interesting.”

Yen chuckled breathlessly at his question.

His uninhibited behaviour left her surprised, although it was not unpleasant, she… _god!_ His teeth grazing one of her nipples made her lose her string of thoughts. Looking down, she could see in his dark eyes, that he was watching her every reaction with calculus, filing away what he observed for possible later use.

It surprised her as well how _easy_ this felt. In her mind Yen had been sure that Emhyr’s reserved personality would carry over into the bedroom, possibly making it hard to enjoy herself.

She let her hands glide through the dark curls on his chest she had seen before, marvelling at how they emphasized his muscles. He wasn’t as well trained as Geralt or some of her other partners but there was a wiry strength behind the thin layer of fat on his abdomen.

Yen used her knuckles and back of her fingers to bluntly scratch across his pecs and Emhyr sucked in a breath in response. Kissing him, she let her left hand wander further down to the front of his pants. Brushing over the resistance she felt there, she smirked against his mouth, whispering: “I’m not a blushing maiden, your majesty. If you want me to spill my desires you’ll have to try more.”

Emhyr replied with deepening the kiss and she cupped his erection through his pants. He went stiff and for a second Yen thought she might have overstepped, but seeing his blown wide pupils, she knew that it was a needless worry.

He was rock hard, straining against the fabric and it made her breath hitch.

The emperor withdrew slowly, sitting up on his knees and she followed him, keeping her hand where it was, applying gentle pressure to his crotch and watching his face twitch as she supposedly found the head with her thumb.

Yen impatiently tucked at the lacing at his front only to have her hands gently but firmly removed.

“Apparently you are the one without self-control between the two of us.” He said, raising an eyebrow. Nonetheless, he stood up from the bed and began to untie his pants.

“I’ve never been known for my patience.” she stated, helping him to push the last of his clothes down over his hips.

His erection sprung free and it took her a lot of willpower to not say something undignified or vulgar. She raised her eyebrows, looking at the swollen head, size and shape, being actually a little impressed. Pleasant heat had begun to pool between her legs since they had started kissing and now it got even stronger, her anticipation growing.

Emhyr seemed unaware of her quiet contemplation of his anatomy and proceeded to struggle out of the second trouser leg before making a move to get back on the bed. Yen stopped him, hands on his biceps. A thought had appeared in her head which she found rather alluring. Blame it on the wine. Blame it on the situation and the fact, that Emhyr var Emreis was standing naked in front of her.

“May I touch it?” She looked up to him and saw his Adam’s apple jump slightly. She had never before offered something like this willingly to someone, only after months and months and if her partner had good arguments as to how and why exactly they deserved such a service.

Yen wasn’t sure how Emhyr would react but she wanted to see his reaction, hoping he would not be any different in this regard than any other man. The thought made her smirk.

He nodded after a short moment and straightened himself again, eyes not leaving her face, almost cautiously.

Yen crawled up to him and straight up buried her face in the soft trail of hair on his lower abdomen, left hand closing around his shaft. She then began to slowly kiss and lick a trail to the base of his members, while moving her hand for and back, grip tightening whenever she arrived at the head. His skin felt almost too hot to the touch, his fingers were flexing at his side and looking up she saw his jaw working and almost unguarded hunger on his face.

Keeping eye contact, she let her tongue glide along the full length of his shaft to the tip.

His eyes fell shut, hands opening and closing quickly.

To say it triggered a rush of satisfaction in her was a colossal understatement.

“When you said “touching”…” Emhyr brought out, voice sounding hoarse “I thought you meant with your _hands_.”

He pressed the knuckles of one hand against his mouth as Yen triumphantly pulled his foreskin back and flicked her tongue over his tip. He tasted of soap and a little bit sharp and of something she recognised as naturally his.

“Yen…” she heard him hiss as she took the head fully into her mouth, deciding that she did not mind this as much as usual since Emhyr was altogether a groomed person and if he continued to make those sounds under his breath…

“Yennefer, stop!” She let his cock pop out of her mouth again as she felt the pressure of his hands against her shoulders. A little surprised, she looked up.

Emhyr shook his head. “Not like this… “

“…I’m sorry.” Mortified, she sat back. “I did not wish to urge you to...”

“You didn’t… But I can promise you that this would have been over in two minutes… If you _continued_ like this.” He looked embarassed.

Yen wiped over her lower lip not really trusting his words, although they sounded disarming honest.

He climbed up on the bed again and she scooted backwards to give him more space, feeling altogether silly but he followed her until he towered over her again. Her worries scattered upon seeing the impatience in his gaze.

“I don’t presume things. Least of all…” He tilted his head. “I hope that is clear.”

“Of course.”

There was a thin shine of sweat on his forehead and he moved with intent, his hands ghosting over her thighs, parting them and positioning himself between them.

“Let me have you.” He whispered against her cheek. “I might return your favour some time and show you what I could truly do with my mouth but only after I have thoroughly possessed you.”

His words made her shudder.

She felt him between their bodies; hot and pulsing against her embarrassingly slick entrance and she teasingly began to move her hips, grinding up and down his shaft.

“Your majesty will find that I’m a very grateful lover.” she said breathlessly. He grunted.

Evidently Emhyr’s patience for teasing had limits. Placing his hands on both sides of her head, he began to enter her slowly, a little deeper with every controlled trust and she closed her eyes. She dug her nails into his back, the stretch feeling wonderful and not enough at the same time.

She opened them again to witness the emperor watching her intently, mouth slightly agape. He looked so very human in that moment, with his pupils blown wide with lust and his black hair hanging into his hard face.

She wrapped her legs around his rear, drawing him in, trying to show him that she wouldn’t break. His hands clenched into the covers and Yen moaned a curse as he was finally fully inside of her. She intentionally let her inner walls tighten around him, grinning up to him to see his eyes widen ever so slightly.

He moved slowly in the beginning, only to snap back into her core hard each time and it took her a few seconds to get accustomed to it, before she started to meet his hips with each trust.

She wanted to make him come, relishing in the wet sound and the feel of his warm chest and arms around her and his cock inside her.

It had been too long. Her pent up feelings and frustration did the rest.

Yen looked at the man in wonder, saw his eyes fluttering open and close, a light flush on his cheeks and it made her realise how very few people ever saw him like this. For a second she grew very aware of the fact, that this was still Emhyr var Emreis panting above her and working up a sweat while _fucking_ her.

She clung to him as he picked up the pace, the mattress moving beneath their bodies.

When he came, Emhyr closed his eyes, gripped her waist hard enough to bruise and buried his face in the nape of her neck. Yen pushed back and rolled her hips a few times. He gasped and shuddered again, trying to hold them in place while he came down from his peak but she did not let him of the hook so easily.

Her own release had been mere moments away, so she took to gently nibbling at his earlobe and continuing the lazy circles with her hips.

Emhyr reacted after a few seconds, heaving himself up. His expression was a mixture of annoyance and pensiveness, but mainly bliss. It smoothed out some of the hard lines around his eyes.

Yen laughed quietly. “Satisfaction suits you.”

He raised an eyebrow at her.

Without a word or breaking eye contact he put his hand on her sex, starting to rub slowly.

It was almost embarrassing how quickly she felt her orgasm building under his gaze.

It didn’t take him more than two minutes to make her follow him over the edge, his thumb on her clit. Feeling herself come apart around his still half-hard member, she couldn’t hold back a loud moan and Emhyr covered her mouth in an absolute filthy kiss. He held her until she stopped shaking before separating their mouths again.

There was a short pause in which Yen caught her breath.

She hesitated but eventually pulled him down to her for another kiss, closing her eyes in a silent thank you.

Emhyr rolled off her to the side and laid on his back, starring up at the black canopy bearing the nilfgaardian golden sun. “Give me a second.” he said, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “That was…”

“Something.”

He paused. “Yes.”

Yen sighed contently and got up to use the bathroom.

When she returned a few minutes later, expecting him to be dressed already again and on his way out the door, she found him in deep sleep above her covers.

She nearly woke him again, but stopped her hand as she saw his slack face. The candlelight emphasised the dark shadows under his eyes in a very unflattering way.

Standing before the softly breathing man, the sorceress contemplated the idea of giving him a blanket but dismissed it as silly sentiment.

She laid down on the other side of the king sized bed after extinguishing the last candles and closed her eyes as well.

After a few minutes she sat up again and threw the heavy bedspread across his legs and hips. He stirred slightly but did not wake up.

Satisfied, she went back to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mijn creasa at deien. = My duty to serve.  
> En twe! = On two!  
> \---
> 
> This completes this story for now. I hope you have enjoyed reading it so far and were not bummed out by my inability to update consistently. In overall writing again did wonders for my mental health allthough those two are tough to write.  
> There are a lot of loose ends that would need wrapping up, like who planned the assasination, will Emhyr find out and in overall how will Yen go on from this point. And I would like to do exactly that. Until then, I'm looking forward to your feedback on this 8500 word chapter :'D  
> See you soon!

**Author's Note:**

> I started reading the books since I really got back into the Witcher lore. So keep in mind that my ignorant arse so far has only played Witcher 3 and knows a bit about the other video games and the series...
> 
> Let me give you this lyrical gem that I found and roughly translated:
> 
> We came from the south and north  
> With hearts so strange and so silent  
> That's how I became yours  
> And I can't tell you why  
> Because when I lost myself to you  
> I thought of someone else  
> So the lie was born  
> Already on the first night
> 
> \- Zarah Leander "Nur nicht aus Liebe weinen"  
> Leave me a comment on why you think Yenn and Emhyr would be a terrible idea or how the could even work out (for some time). 
> 
> Thx!


End file.
